Rapid fabrication of large area binary polystyrene colloidal crystals

Recent Advances in Binary Colloidal Crystals for Photonics and Porous Material Fabrication

“…To date, BCCs have been obtained by a variety of assembly methods, using a mixture of colloidal spheres with two different sizes, such as layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition, − template-assisted assembly, ,− electric-field-induced assembly, , confined convective assembly, − centrifugal-field-induced assembly, − spin-coating assembly, − horizontal and vertical deposition, ,,, and coself-assembly approaches. − Their structures mainly depend on the size ratio of large (L) colloidal spheres to small (S) colloidal spheres and the number ratio of both spheres. Many different self-assembly routes, aiming to fabricate BCCs rapidly and inexpensively, with precise manipulation of the defined surface and inner structure, have been recently developed.…”

“…Scheme shows the detailed illustration of procedures for fabricating BCCs with the LS N stoichiometry using a step-wise spin-coating method, where N denotes the number ratio of small to large particles. Yang et al rapidly achieved the mass production of polystyrene (PS) BCCs using a spin-coating method in combination with an interface transferred method and meanwhile obtained the new structure as LS 12 at low spin speed . For this approach, spin speed and diameter ratio are the two key parameters for precise control over the resulting BCC structure.…”

“…Yang et al rapidly achieved the mass production of polystyrene (PS) BCCs using a spin-coating method in combination with an interface transferred method and meanwhile obtained the new structure as LS 12 at low spin speed. 71 For this approach, spin speed and diameter ratio are the two key parameters for precise control over the resulting BCC structure. Moreover, assembly methods such as electric-field-induced assembly, magnetic-field-induced assembly, or centrifugal-field-induced assembly can also achieve desirable goals in the presence of external forces.…”

2D Optical Gratings Based on Hexagonal Voids on Transparent Elastomeric Substrate

“…This bottom-up approach exploits the self-assembly of hard dielectric micro and nano spheres such as silica or polystyrene (PS) in order to fabricate two dimensional arrays. In recent literature, 2D colloidal crystals have been realized by self-assembly under electrophoresis deposition [ 2 ], Langmuir–Blodgett deposition [ 3 ], spin coating [ 4 ] and capillary forces [ 5 ]. Considering this last approach, Sun et al [ 6 ] have demonstrated that the use of wedge-shaped cell allows obtaining large domains 2D colloidal crystals, with centimeter size, taking advantage on the capillary forces and drying front formed in the cell.…”